Male Bobolink In Song

[Jim Fenton]

Love new field grass and overcast mornings for creating these images :)

Nikon D300, 500VR, TC14EII, ISO 800, F 7.1, 1/125, Flat Tone Curve, UniWB, CW Metering, +.7EV

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

WOW, that's a real keeper :)
Amazing pose, bg, moment, details. The perch doesn't drive me crazy but the action makes me forget about it.

Szimi

[Jim Fenton]

Actually, the percdh wasn't great for sure and it was so unsteady, every time the bird sang I could actually see it get a tad fuzzy from vibrations in the viewfinder. I needed one of those lovely pre plated perches they use down in texas with the pretty vines and flowers on them :)

Since there were no other perches around and this bird thought this one was just pissa...I had to live with it.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

You work with what you have in some cases. :) I actually enjoy seeing the long toes/talons trying to grasp it.

The bird itself is excellent, sharp, exposure, pose. Nice detail in the feathers.

Another nice one

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amazing Bobolink image! I've tried a few times to get close, but not quite close enough (close enough for a 500 + 1.4 mind you!) I like everything about this, but found most of the bird a little "flat" - especially on the body and tail. I masked off the darker blacks of the face and added 8 points of contrast to the rest of the image and then applied a 6% exposure burn to the tail. What do you think?

[Jim Fenton]

Daniel...

I actually had the image closer to what you presented originally abd backed off the blacks a tad... and side by side, I definetly prefer what you've done.

Now...if you let me in on how you accomplisged the "exposure burn".....?

Is this akin to contrast sharpening?

[Steve Canuel]

Interesting looking bird with those colors and patterns. Nice timing on the pose. Exposure looks good, the reposts looks a tad better.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Now...if you let me in on how you accomplisged the "exposure burn".....?

Is this akin to contrast sharpening?

I should have worded that as using the burn tool, set at 6% exposure. When you choose the burn tool you can choose the "Range" which I almost always keep on "midtones", and you can set the "Exposure" which controls how dark the "burn" will be (100% being darkest).

[Ramon M. Casares]

Excelent heand angle, terrific light, great timing, stunning pose, and BG, lovely detail and very good exposure! Big congratulations!

[Stu Bowie]

Jim ,excellent exposure on the blacks, super pose with the open beak, and love the feather detail in this. Well done.

[Lana Hays]

Jim
I love this species for all their song and interesting pattern of color. Wonderful job getting this one in a complimentary BG and detail. The slight tweaking that Daniel did made it even better. Well done.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool capture of this bird, great details and BG. I don't mind the perch but would add a bit canvas at the bottom.